For integrated circuits used in wireless communication devices or other high-speed digital electronics, a power delivery network supplies power to the various components of the overall system. A power delivery network may include a voltage regulator module that regulates voltage for a component.
Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling are techniques for power savings. For example, a component may switch to a low power mode where lower voltage is used under certain circumstances. When the operating voltage changes, the component (e.g., a processor) may also operate at a lower frequency. When a voltage used by the component decreases, the voltage regulator module adjusts the power supplied to the component.
A conventional power delivery network utilizes a three-stage architecture. The voltage regulator feedback point and the point of load are far from each other in a three-stage architecture. The distance between the voltage regulator feedback point and the point of load causes a slower response in terms of dynamic voltage and frequency scaling. Slow dynamic voltage and frequency scaling leads to power inefficiency and a degradation in the overall performance of the power delivery network. Furthermore, the three-stage power delivery network architecture has more components and materials to fabricate, resulting in higher manufacturing costs.